Antisemitsm and Jewish Guilt

Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center’s 2017 Annual Report on Anti-Semitism Worldwide was released today and there is good news: The number of recorded violent antisemitic incidents in 2017 fell by about 9% as compared to 2016 – and by almost 50% compared to the 2006-14 average.

One would expect Jewish and Zionist institutions to celebrate the victory over antisemitsm and Jew hatred in general. This is not happening. According to the study, Jews feel more insecure. “This situation [the drop in violent incidents] is not necessarily perceived in Jewish communities as a sufficient positive development, because the presence of security measures means that they are a necessity, and mainly because it is overshadowed by the many verbal and visual expressions, some on the verge of violence, such as direct threats, harassments, hateful expressions and insults. These take place in working places, schools, universities, playgrounds, near Jewish homes and institutes, on football/soccer fields, during demonstrations in the streets, and all the more so in the social networks.”

Once again Corbyn, BDS and the Left are the objects of blame. “The rise of leftist antisemitism that supports radical Muslim anti-Israeli attitudes expressed in antisemitic terms such as in the BDS and Antifa movements, and certainly in the UK Labour party led by Jeremy Corbyn.”

Apparently Jews in the UK are “losing their traditional political home” as a result of feeling betrayed by the Labour party. Maybe someone should explain to these snowflakes that political parties in the West are not ‘homes’ or properties nor do political parties need to make tribal commitments. But voters can drop political parties and choose a different party. This is Western democracy. You support the political party that best reflects your beliefs rather than dictating your ideology to a political party. If Labour under Corbyn doesn’t reflect your beliefs, just move on, support another, or even form your own party.

We are confronting bizarre behaviour. Would women feel more or less vulnerable if we learned that rape incidents dropped by 10%? Would Blacks react negatively to a study revealing that anti black violence dropped by 10%? And what about Muslims, wouldn’t they welcome a drop of 10% in Islamophobic violence?

It seems to me that Jews have a lot of work to do, examining their own behavior. Rather than trying to portray Corbyn as the contemporary Oswald Mosley or turning the Labour Party into the enemy, Jews should look inward and find out what Jewishness means in 2018. What does it offer in light of Israeli criminality? What is the meaning of the holocaust when social media spreads images of Jewish soldiers shooting Palestinians like sitting ducks?

I believe that Jews feel insecure despite the drop in anti-Semitic violence because they feel guilty. They do not seem to know how to encapsulate and compartmentalise their Jewish existence within a Jewish continuum that is shaped by Israeli belligerence and relentless Zio-con advocacy of global conflicts.